Battle of Ramla

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battles of Ramla


caption=
partof=the Crusades
date=1st: September 7, 1101
2nd: 1102
3rd: August 27, 1105
place=Ramla
result=1st: Crusader victory
2nd: Egyptian victory
3rd: Crusader victory
combatant1=Kingdom of Jerusalem
combatant2=Fatimids of Egypt
commander1=Baldwin I of Jerusalem
commander2=1st: Saad el-Dawleh [Dupuy, p 316]
2nd: Al-Afdal Shahanshah
3rd: Al-Afdal Shahanshah
3rd:Toghtekin of Damascus
strength1=1st: 260 knights, 900 foot
2nd: 500 knights
3rd: Unknown
strength2=1st: 10,000
2nd: 30,000 [Dupuy, p 316]
3rd: Unknown
casualties1=1st: One-third
2nd: Nearly 500
3rd: Unknown
casualties2=Unknown
The "Battle of Ramla" (or Ramla) can refer to a number of battles in the early years of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Ramla was an important town on the road from Jerusalem to Ascalon, the latter of which was the largest Fatimid fortress in Palestine. From Ascalon the Egyptian vizier, Al-Afdal Shahanshah, launched almost annual attacks into the newly-founded kingdom from 1099 to 1107. It was often the case that the two armies met each other at Ramla.

First Battle of Ramla

The first battle of Ramla was September 7, 1101. Baldwin had only 260 cavalry and 900 foot soldiers which he formed into six divisions to combat the Egyptian force of about 10,000 strong. The first two divisions were wiped out in the initial attack but when the third division was pursued after being routed by the Egyptians Baldwin attacked the enemy and after vicious close-quarter combat, repulsed them, causing a panicked retreat. After pursuing the fleeing Fatimids to Ascalon, he returned to Ramla to plunder the Egyptian camp. This success secured the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the Fatimad Caliphate's advances for the campaigning season.

Second Battle of Ramla

The second battle took place in 1102. Due to faulty reconnaissance Baldwin underestimated the size of the Egyptian force and rode to battle with only 500 mounted knights to meet the enemy. Seeing the size of the Egyptian force too late and already cutoff from escape many of the knights charged into the heart of the Egyptian lines and were slaughtered but Baldwin and some survivors from the Crusade of 1101 were able to barricade themselves in Ramla's single tower. Baldwin escaped under the cover of night traveling to Arsuf where he convinced an English ship captain to break through the Egyptian blockade of Jaffa which was being besieged by the Fatimids.

With the arrival of a fleet of French and German Crusaders, Baldwin was able to assemble an army of 8,000 men [Dupuy, p 316] . In the Battle of Jaffa, he led a cavalry charge that once again broke the Egyptian lines and forced the Fatimid forces to flee to Ascalon. Despite the loss of numerous knights, and the capture of Conrad, Constable of Jerusalem, and death of Stephen of Blois in the final charge from the doomed tower of Ramla, Baldwin was able to profit off the plunder left behind by the fleeing Egyptians.

Third Battle of Ramla

The third battle took place on August 27, 1105 and is considered the most brutally fought of the three. In this battle, the Crusaders depended on both horse and foot soldiers while the Egyptians were reinforced by a Seljuk Turkish force from Damascus. After withstanding the initial Frankish cavalry charge the battle raged for most of the day. "The Franks appear to have owed their victory to the activity of Baldwin. He vanquished the Turks when they were becoming a serious threat to his rear, and returned to the main battle to lead the decisive charge which defeated the Egyptians." [Smail, p 177] Although Baldwin was once again able to drive the Egyptians from the field of battle and loot the enemy camp he was unable to pursue them any further.

Despite the victory the Egyptians continued to make annual raids into the Kingdom of Jeruselum with some reaching the walls of Jerusalem before being pushed back. The next major engagement between Fatimids and Crusaders was the Battle of Yibneh in 1123.

Fatimid armies

Egyptian armies of the period relied on masses of Sudanese bowmen supported by Arab and Berber cavalry. Since the archers were on foot and the horsemen awaited attack with lance and sword, an Egyptian army provided exactly the sort of immobile target that the Frankish heavy cavalry excelled in attacking. Except for the third battle of Ramla in 1105, when Toghtekin of Damascus sent a contingent of Turks to help the Egyptians, the Fatimids did not use horse archers.

Whereas the Crusaders developed a healthy respect for the harass and surround tactics of the Turkish horse archers, they tended to discount the effectiveness of the Egyptian armies. While overconfidence led to a Crusader disaster at the second battle of Ramla, the more frequent result was a Fatimid defeat. "The Franks never, until the reign of Saladin, feared the Egyptian as they did the armies from Muslim Syria and Mesopotamia." [Smail, p 87]

References

* Dupuy, R. E. & Dupuy, T. N. "The Encyclopedia of Military History." New York: Harper & Row, 1977. ISBN 0-06-011139-9
* Smail, R. C. "Crusading Warfare 1097-1193." New York: Barnes & Noble Books, (1956) 1995. ISBN 1-56619-769-4
* This article used other sources not cited.

Footnotes